help button home button Genetics J Clin Inv
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Genetics, Vol. 178, 83-97, January 2008, Copyright © 2008
doi:10.1534/genetics.107.075275

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stanvitch, G.
Right arrow Articles by Moore, L. L.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stanvitch, G.
Right arrow Articles by Moore, L. L.

cin-4, a Gene With Homology to Topoisomerase II, Is Required for Centromere Resolution by Cohesin Removal From Sister Kinetochores During Mitosis

Gerald Stanvitch and Landon L. Moore1

Department of Genetics and Genomics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts 02118

1 Corresponding author: Boston University School of Medicine, 715 Albany St., E642, Boston, MA 02118.
E-mail: lmoore{at}bu.edu

The back-to-back geometry of sister kinetochores is essential in preventing loss or damage of chromosomes during mitosis. Kinetochore orientation is generated in part by a process of resolving kinetochores at the centromere (centromere resolution) prior to spindle interactions. Because few of the genes required for centromere resolution are known, we used Caenorhabditis elegans to screen for conditional mutants defective in orienting sister kinetochores during mitosis. C. elegans is ideal for such screens because its chromosomes are holocentric. Here we identified an essential gene, cin-4, required for centromere resolution and for removal of cohesin from sites near sister kinetochores during mitosis. Given that compromised cohesin function restores centromere resolution in the absence of cin-4, CIN-4 likely acts to remove cohesin from the CENP-A chromatin enabling centromere resolution. CIN-4 has a high amino acid identity to the catalytic domain of topoisomerase II, suggesting a partial gene duplication of the C. elegans topoisomerase II gene, top-2. Similar to CIN-4, TOP-2 is also required for centromere resolution; however, the loss of TOP-2 is phenotypically distinct from the loss of CIN-4, suggesting that CIN-4 and TOP-2 are topoisomerase II isoforms that perform separate essential functions in centromere structure and function.






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2008 by the Genetics Society of America.